


Show Me Your Teeth

by Vidriana



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, M/M, Mild Blood, Misunderstanding, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 16:06:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vidriana/pseuds/Vidriana
Summary: “Does it feel good?” he asks, voice barely a whisper now. Heddy hums, looking thoughtful.“Is that what this is about? You’re not scared of Val at all, are you?” Heddy teases and Brayden buries his burning face in his hands.“Please, don’t,” he groans, as Heddy laughs at him again.Valtteri Filppula is a vampire. Brayden has some feelings about that.





	Show Me Your Teeth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Lecavayay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lecavayay/gifts).



> Once upon a time (/exactly a year ago), I asked for Halloween prompts on Tumblr and then in true Me™ Fashion didn't finish any of them. 
> 
> So, here it is, a year later! Lots of people mentioned in this fic aren't actually on the Bolts anymore, but that was ignored for the sake of the story! 
> 
> Thanks to Dell for being my wonderful beta, as always <3
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“You’re staring again.” Heddy’s voice comes from somewhere to his left and Brayden winces.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, turning his attention back to taping his socks properly. He can still feel Heddy looking at him and he can’t stop the heat shooting up his neck. 

“You don’t have a problem with it, do you?” Heddy asks in a tone that strongly implies Brayden would be best served with keeping any issues he does have to himself.

“No, of course not,” Brayden assures quickly, and it’s not a lie, it’s just… “Does it hurt?” It comes out a lot more breathy than he’d intended. He glances over again at the two tiny, slightly red puncture wounds on Bish’s neck. He’d only come out of the trainer’s room with Val minutes before, but they already look mostly healed, and Brayden can’t help but wonder... 

Heddy’s low laugh snaps him out of it. “Don’t worry about that, Val knows what he’s doing.” He sounds sort of nostalgic when he says it, and something about his tone sends a shiver down Brayden’s spine.

“Does it feel good?” he asks, voice barely a whisper now. Heddy hums, looking thoughtful.

“Is that what this is about? You’re not scared of Val at all, are you?” Heddy teases and Brayden buries his burning face in his hands.

“Please, don’t,” he groans, as Heddy laughs at him again.

“Are you harassing my rookie, Hedman?” a deep, amused voice says right next to Brayden’s ear and he almost jumps, still not used to the mostly soundless way Val moves whenever he isn’t specifically pretending to be human.

“I would never,” Heddy claims, a hand over his heart and an innocent expression on his face, contradicting the mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

Val puts an arm around Brayden’s shoulders protectively, and Brayden’s heart skips a beat, suddenly very aware how close Val’s mouth is to his neck. 

“Uh huh. Don’t you have a practice to get ready for?” he dismisses Heddy, who grins at both of them before finally heading back to his own locker. “Are you alright?” Val asks, turning his whole attention to Brayden, and Brayden’s heart decides to resume its job, beating twice as fast as normal now.

“I’m fine,” he manages. “He was just teasing me. Nothing bad.” His voice is unusually high, but there isn’t anything he can do about that. Val frowns, pulling back his arm and considers him with intense, bright blue eyes.

“If you say so,” he eventually says, getting up off the bench. “Let me know if you need my help with anything.” He walks away, leaving Brayden feeling like he’d messed up in some way, even if he isn’t quite sure how.

————— 

They’re having a late afternoon practice when Jo’s stick comes up and hits him. The searing pain across his cheek has Brayden reflexively reaching up to his face. His glove comes away sticky with bright, red blood. 

Next to him, Jo grimaces. “Shit, sorry. Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I gotta get this fixed though, I think,” Brayden responds, skating off to the bench. He can’t help but glance over towards where Val is lingering, looking uncharacteristically anxious.

Brayden wonders if it’s hard for him, having to smell fresh blood so close by, but not being able to drink it, not able to feed. 

His thoughts circle around Val some more, even while he’s getting checked out and stitched up by a trainer. He imagines Val walking towards him with a predatory glint in his eyes. 

_Let me help with that_ he’d say, low and seductive, and Brayden wouldn’t even be able to resist, would watch helplessly as Val’d lean in and lick the fresh blood off his cheek, the wound closing instantly underneath his tongue, before turning towards Brayden’s neck and sinking his teeth in there.

The door to the trainer’s room opens and Brayden’s breath catches as Val walks in, his eyes fixing on Brayden’s face as soon as the door is closed behind him. 

“Are you okay?” Val asks, so close he could touch Brayden now if he wanted to.

“Yeah, just a scratch,” Brayden responds, a lot more breathless than he’d like. “It’ll heal.”

In his mind he can already hear Val purr _Would you like me to make it heal faster?_ before stepping closer, so it’s a surprise when Val steps back instead, his brow furrowed.

He considers Brayden for a moment, his eyes dragging from the cut on his cheek to Brayden’s eyes, but briefly flicking down to his chest. He shakes his head. “You know I’d never drink from you, right?”

Brayden feels his face heat in embarrassment. “I know,” he mumbles, staring down at his socked feet so he doesn’t have to meet Val’s eyes, cursing his overactive imagination. He almost expects Val to say something else, reprimand him for being so skittish, but he doesn’t, just waits for another moment, before turning around and leaving the room.

————— 

Brayden knows he’s in trouble as soon as Johnny drops into the empty seat next to him. 

“Hey Bray,” he starts, a wide grin on his face, and Brayden already wants to sink right through the bottom of the plane. “So, rumor has it you have a crush on Count Filppula.”

Brayden groans and buries his head in his hands, but doesn’t even protest it. Johnny pats his back reassuringly. 

“It’s okay. Who wouldn’t fall for his undeadly charm and biting wit?” Brayden groans even louder. He has terrible friends.

————— 

Val gets slammed against the boards late in the third and is slow to get up. Brayden keeps shooting him worried glances until the buzzer finally goes and he disappears into the trainer’s room. 

Brayden wants to go after him, but he knows it’s not his place, so he just takes his time stripping off his gear and showering, in the hopes that he might somehow run into Val before heading home.

To his surprise it’s not Val, but Stammer that comes out of one of the trainer’s room. “Hey,” Brayden greets him right away. “I didn’t know you had a checkup today. Is everything okay?” Now that he’s looking more closely, Stammer looks sort of pale and a bit disheveled, contradicting the satisfied expression on his face.

“Ah, no. I was just...helping out a teammate.” He sheepishly rubs at the back of his neck, drawing Brayden’s gaze to two neat, fresh-looking puncture wounds on his throat. 

“O— oh,” Brayden stutters, suddenly feeling incredibly stupid. “Is he okay? Val, I mean.” Stammer nods.

“He’s gonna be fine. Vamps heal fast when they get fresh blood, don’t worry about him.”

He claps Brayden on the shoulder as he walks off, leaving Brayden feeling strangely unsettled in a way he can’t quite place. He looks over to the door Stammer had come through and bites his lip. He knows he shouldn’t, knows that the trainers are taking care of it, but he can’t really help himself. He goes to check on Val.

The lights in the trainer’s room are a lot dimmer than he’s used to from his visits there. Still, it’s not difficult at all to make out the lone figure sitting up on the bench in the middle. 

Val has his eyes closed and doesn’t seem to notice Brayden entering, because he doesn’t react at all. He holds his whole body unnaturally still in a way he usually doesn’t let the team see, not even his chest moves with breath he doesn’t really need. 

Brayden pauses in the doorway and takes a moment to look at him. He looks better than he had out on the ice. There’s some colour in his cheeks and his posture is relaxed, not like he’s trying to hide any pain or injury. 

There’s a wet sheen across his lips, reflecting in the dim light of the overhead lamp, and Brayden realizes with a gasp that it must be leftover blood. 

The sound seems to snap Val out of whatever trance he’s in and he turns towards Brayden with one inhumanly quick movement. “Oh,” he says, so quiet that Brayden almost doesn’t hear it, but he doesn’t even have time to wonder what Val could possibly mean by that, because something else catches his attention.

Val’s fangs are still extended. They’re smaller than what Brayden had imagined, far from the terrible, nail-like canines he’d pictured in his head. They suit him, but then again, most things do. They also completely destroy every illusion that Val is anything close to human.

“I’m sorry,” Brayden stutters out, as Val hastily lifts up a hand to cover his mouth. “I didn’t mean to—” Brayden isn’t quite sure how he’s going to finish that sentences, because he very much had meant to, had always hoped to somehow accidentally walk in on Val feeding on someone, to catch a glimpse of his true nature, if only to make his secret fantasies about Val a bit more realistic.

“You should leave,” Val says, voice muffled by the hand still positioned in front of his mouth. Without another word, Brayden turns and leaves. His heart is still racing when he slams the door behind him, a bit more forcefully than he’d really wanted to.

He stands there, back pressed against the closed door, and takes a moment to calm his breathing. The whole while he can’t shake the terrible feeling that he really messed up.

————— 

Val is avoiding him. It’s not super obvious, it’s quite likely that most of his teammates don’t notice, but Brayden does. 

It’s the small things that are especially noticeable, like how Val makes sure to avoid touching him. No more friendly shoulder pats or head ruffles when Brayden is having a good practice or a good game, no more supportive nudges to his side when he’s not. Val doesn’t sit close by anymore when they take the plane or go out to a restaurant.

The most painful change is probably the way Val doesn’t smile at him anymore.

Brayden knows he should talk to him, should apologize, but he has no idea what to say. _Sorry I totally invaded your privacy_? Probably a good start, but not nearly enough. _Sorry for being such a creep about the whole vampire thing?_ Would cover all bases, but isn’t specific enough to be sincere. _Sorry I keep making you uncomfortable because of my vampire fetish, but if it makes you feel any better, I’m pretty sure it’s just you._ Possibly the worst thing he could say.

The silence lasts for a month, and by that time some of the others have started to notice something’s wrong. Heddy keeps sending Brayden worried looks, and Johnny and Pally have stopped spewing terrible vampire puns in his vicinity. 

“Is everything okay with you and Val?” Stammer finally asks when he runs into Brayden after a late practice session. Brayden is too exhausted to come up with a convincing excuse. 

“I did something I shouldn’t have and now he’s mad at me,” he confesses, brushing sweaty strands away from his forehead. “And I don’t know how to fix it.”

Stammer raises an eyebrow at him. “Have you tried talking to him? That usually helps.”

Brayden sighs. “I’m not really sure what to say.” Stammer just companionably pats him on the shoulder.

“You’ll figure it out.”

————— 

In retrospect, Brayden has no idea why he had believed Johnny when he’d said one of the trainers had asked to see him. That's not how it usually works, but Brayden is still new enough to the NHL to not ask too many questions when older players tell him to do something.

It’s only when the door slams shut behind him, followed by the sound of a lock engaging and loud, enthusiastic laughter echoing outside in the corridor, that it occurs to him he might have been tricked.

“Oh,” a familiar voice says from the other end of the room and Brayden has to swallow down a sudden rush of nerves. “Oh no, did they lock us in?” Val asks, sounding more distressed than Brayden has ever heard him off the ice. His stomach feels like it’s filled with lead.

“Yup, guess they think they’re being funny,” he says, lamely, letting his eyes drift over the charts and diagrams on the wall so he can avoid looking at Val.

“This isn’t funny,” Val says, voice hard, and any hope Brayden had of patching things up with an apology goes flying out the window. “I’m sorry, I tried not to make you uncomfortable,” Val says, sounding apologetic. Brayden looks up.

“Uh, what?” he asks, rather dumbly. Val’s brows furrow.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t notice.”

“No, of course, but— you don’t make me uncomfortable!” Brayden gets out, completely baffled. 

Val’s eyebrows furrow even further. “You’re scared of me.” Brayden almost laughs at that.

“I’m really not.” Intimidated, maybe a little, but scared? 

Val rolls his eyes. “Your heart starts racing whenever I get too close. Your pupils dilate, like you’re looking for an exit. That time you saw my fangs, you nearly stopped breathing.” Brayden can feel heat creep up the back of his neck.

“Yeah, cause the vampire thing is really hot.” He regrets the words the instant they leave his mouth. “I mean, not that it’s— I don’t—” He breaks of, takes a deep breath. Time to come clean. “I’m kinda really into you,” he admits, heart beating far faster than it should, this time actually out of fear. Of humiliation though, not for his life. “In case that wasn’t clear.”

“Oh,” Val say softly. He’s gotten up from where he was leaning against the wall and is walking over, slow, even by human standards. “You like me.”

Brayden’s cheeks are on fire. “Yeah,” he croaks out. “Sorry?” Val smiles at him, for the first time in over a month and Brayden hadn’t even realized how much he’d missed it.

“No need to apologize. I think I quite like it.” He stops, just inches in front of Brayden and looks at him with a warm, fond expression. Brayden swallows.

“So, if you ever wanna, you know, bite me, I’d be up for that.” He misses casual by at least ten miles, but Val is still smiling, so he can’t really bring himself to feel too bad about it. 

“I’m not hungry right now, but thanks for the offer,” he says and grins, displaying perfectly human looking teeth. It’s somehow not any less distracting than the fangs had been. “However, I would like to kiss you, if you’re amenable.”

Brayden’s heart is beating in his throat. “I am,” he stutters out. “I’m very amenable. To that.”

When Val finally leans in to kiss him, the fact that it makes Brayden stop talking is almost as good as the actual kiss. Well, almost. 

— Bonus scene — 

“It’s not just about the vampire thing though, I promise.”

“Whatever you say.”

“I’m serious, Val. I would be so into you, even if you were completely human.”

“...Does that mean you don’t want me to bite you this evening?”

“What? No, that’s— I, uhm— I’d really like that.”

“I figured.”

THE END

**Author's Note:**

> I know, for a vampire fic, there is disappointingly little biting in it, but I hope you enjoyed it anyway!
> 
> I also apologize for the uncreative title, but my working title was "Count Filppula" so I chose the lesser evil here.
> 
> Please let me know if you liked it, or come talk to me on my [writing Tumblr](https://vidrianawrites.tumblr.com/) if you'd like!


End file.
